An ace up his sleeve
by Ejikin-Victoria
Summary: This is my first fanfic, so please be gentle. Arkana recovers from the duel with Yugi. ((I hope to develop this into an ArkanaTea fic soon, hence the rating))
1. Default Chapter

Arkana blinked carefully, confused and dazed. He was flying extremely fast, over snow covered land. His feet felt sore, and his arms and shoulder blades hurt slightly, like mild cramp. He closed his eyes, screwing them up, and opened them again slowly. No, he wasn't flying, and that wasn't snow. Warmth crept into his hands, as well as his chest. It was familiar warmth, the warmth of another human being. He remembered how amazing it had felt when he hugged Catherine, felt her head on his shoulder, her breasts against his chest, her heart beating gently through to his. But this warmth was different, kind of uncomfortable, but he could definitely feel a small hand on his chest.

Voices began to sting his ears, urgent, frantic. He could tell what kind of people they were from the voices, a knack he developed from years of performing for children.

"Hold on Arkana, we're almost there!" a child's voice spoke to him, a male.

"Hey doc! Give us a hand here, will yah?" A teenager, New York, also male.

"Gee Yugi, he doesn't look so good." A young girl, quite girly.

Yugi.

The name struck him like a slap on the face. Finally opening his eyes, he was able to put all the feelings together.

He was being dragged into a hospital by his arms; two guys about the same height he was had his long thin arms wrapped around their necks, a teamwork move to carry him. One of them had brownie-black hair gelled into a point at the front. The other guy, the one on his left, was a blonde, the New Yorker. Arkana caught a glimpse of a duel-disk on the blonde's left arm and he felt sick again. Then, he looked down, at the hand on his chest. His eyes caught sight of a blue jacket, and yellow and red hair. It was Yugi. Small, selfless Yugi. His light purple eyes were looking back at him with genuine worry and concern.

"It's going to be alright Arkana, we'll help you!" Yugi spoke in a small, frantic voice. His voice was different, not as powerful as the one he'd used in their duel. Maybe it was a trick? No. He had seen the eyes of thousands of people, and he knew right away that those were not the eyes of a liar.

Glancing down at himself, he saw that he was still wearing his red suit and black shirt, only his shirt had been unbuttoned slightly and his tie was removed. His top hat wasn't on top of his head, but it was in the arms of a very pretty girl with deep blue eyes and short brown hair. She was also carrying his duel disk and obscenely large bow tie. Two doctors came running up to help, and Arkana smiled as he drifted back into his blackened mind, scarred by lies and deceit, when all he wanted to do was entertain, and be with Catherine...

Arkana looked around, scared. His suit was gone, and now he simply wore a white hospital robe. Sharp pains jolted through his feet as he walked over the dirt and stones of the mysterious cemetery he found himself trapped in. A purple aura surrounded him, and he felt all his strength and courage disappear. Suddenly, Marik appeared in front of him, his purple robe had blended into the mist. Arkana had only seen him because of the gold rod in his hands and his striking white hair.

"Master Marik!" he yelled in his usual high pitched voice, a smile on his face as he recognized the man that would help him. But the smile faded quickly as he saw Marik's anger on his twisted features.

"You are a liar, Arkana! You promised me Yugi's card and you lost!" He snarled, pointing an accusing finger at the broken man.

Before Arkana had time to react, he suddenly saw three red Magician's emerge from the shadows, all glaring coldly at him. The staffs they held in their hands now looked identical to the key Arkana had so desperately tried to use to escape when he finally lost the duel. He screamed at the top of his lungs, but silence came out as the three Magicians attacked him full force with their dark magic attack...

Arkana jolted hard out of his nightmare, his heart pounding as he recovered from the shock. It was dark, but the soft glow of the hospital room lights made it easier to see. He saw a small table in front of him, on it lay his duel disk, his top hat and his dueling deck. He looked over to the small wardrobe to his left and saw his suit hung up neatly inside, a little dirty, but still very clean.

Reaching up to wipe the sleep from his eyes, he touched the badly blistered skin of his face. The cragged and wrinkled eye sockets, the cracked nose. He looked around for his mask, but it was nowhere in sight. He suddenly became aware of two people lying in his room. One of them was the pretty girl who had been carrying his top hat and dueling deck. The other was Yugi, curled up against the girl gently, resting his head on her shoulder. Arkana gave a faint smile, but then his thoughts went back to Catherine and the Dark Magicians and he shivered visibly. He carefully picked up his deck and began thumbing through it quietly, trying to calm himself down. He was surprised to see every single card was there, none had been taken. His eyes landed on one card, the Ectoplasmer card. "Sacrifice one monster on your side of the field to inflict Direct damage to your opponent's life points, equal to the sacrificed monster's attack points. If your opponent has a monster of the same name on their side of the field, both monsters are destroyed and no damage is inflicted on either player's life points". Yugi's words rang out through the back of his head, about how he had no respect for his cards. Arkana placed the rest of his cards on the table, looking at the holographic surface of the Ectoplasmer card. He closed his eyes as the sound of ripping rang through the air as he destroyed the card, throwing the pieces into the small tin rubbish bin at the foot of the bed. He began thumbing through his cards again.

The girl yawned quietly and rubbed her eyes gently. Seeing Arkana's large silhouette made her jump, but when she realized just who it was, she smiled.

"Did you sleep well?" Her sweet voice rang out through the room, not enough to wake Yugi, but enough to make Arkana spin round. He fanned the cards in his left hand and held them up as a weak type of shield to cover his twisted features. A gasp of surprise crept out of his throat, he backed slightly away.

"Oh wait! Please, don't be worried!" the girl stepped forwards and placed a delicate hand on her chest. "I'm Tea, nice to meet you Arkana, sir."

Arkana glanced at her, then the cards he held. Gazing back at him were a Mystic Tomato, Dark Renewal, Dark Magical Curtain...and a Red Dark Magician. Looking at her with his thin, piercing eyes, he slowly lowered the cards and placed them back in his deck.

"I guess I can't introduce myself since you already know my name" he joked gently, looking into her deep blue eyes. She had eyes like Catherine's, the same big blue eyes that he loved.

Tea giggled gently and looked towards his items on the table. "I thought you might still want these things while you're recovering." Gently she picked up his top hat, looked inside of it briefly to find out which was the front and which was the back. Then, she carefully raised it and placed it on his head. Arkana didn't move while she did it, he just felt the large hat settle on his head. It was a size too big, but he liked it, even if it looked weird.

"There, perfect." She smiled sweetly up at him, being nice, but she was still wary of him. He did work for Marik after all. But Yugi had vouched for him and had been the one helping him, so maybe he wasn't so bad.

"No, not quite..." he raised a hand to his face. Tea tilted her head slightly, then realized what was wrong.

"Your mask was left back at the dueling room. Our main worry was you." Tea said, putting a blanket over the sleeping Yugi. Somewhere in her heart she had the feeling that Yami was protecting him, keeping his mind safe from any nightmares.

When she turned back, Arkana had a small red rose in his hand. She raised a brow and took it gently.

"A flower for the lovely lady..." he said the words in a quiet, dreamy way, remembering the first time he performed that trick on a girl in his school.

Tea sat on the corner of his bed, looking up at him.

"So... I'm kind of lost now, mind telling me a little more about yourself, Arkana?" Tea suddenly felt very rude for calling him by his first name, Arkana didn't notice this though. He sat next to her on the bed, and began his story, of his magical career, Katherine, meeting Marik and the duel between Yugi.

By the end of his story, Tea had a few tears rolling down her cheeks.

"I'm 21 years old, and I've lost everything dear to me..." he looked up at Tea and held a handkerchief out for her. She took it quietly, only to have several more tissues follow it. She gave a small giggle and Arkana smiled, "except for my sense of humor."


	2. Chapter 2

Arkana smiled, "except for my sense of humor."

A silence crept over the room, not uncomfortable, but Arkana still felt awkward as he heard his own stupid joke ringing in his ears. Sighing some, he looked at his cards. He was surprised to see his hands had tightened around them.

"Arkana?" Tea questioned, tilting her head gently.

Blinking some, Arkana looked to her with a weak smile, mainly put on for her benefit.

Holding up her own deck, she smiled sweetly. Her blue eyes looked into his and for a brief second she forgot what she was about to say. Then her mind locked back into place again.

"Do you want to duel?"

Doubt clouded his mind. The painful memories of the duel with Yugi, being betrayed by Marik... but this wasn't her fault, she didn't do any of this.

Simply nodding his reply, he smiled once more. But this was not simply being nice; he really felt happy now.

"Aw damn..."

Arkana shook his head and smiled gently as he looked at the field. He had a Dark Magician on the field with another in the graveyard and his third one in his hand. Face down was his Shallow Grave, and a face up Coffin Seller active. He also had a Mysterious Puppeteer in attack Mode, and his life points were at a weak 500. Tea, however, had a Dark Magician Girl on the field, powered up by 300 for his Dark Magician in the graveyard, her life points at a high 3100. But Tea had just attacked with her Shinato, King of a Higher Plane, with 3300 attack points. She had just attacked with Shinato and destroyed his Dark Magician, powering up her Dark Magician Girl again to 2600, who she now used to attack his Mysterious Puppeteer.

"I want a rematch!" Arkana said with a laugh. Tea gawked at him and giggled.

"We've been dueling all night! I've won 28 times, you've won 27!"

"Yes! I want a rematch until I take the lead!" He chuckled, taking his hand and mixing it with the graveyard and the cards he had not yet drawn from his deck.

Tea giggled as she picked up her cards one by one, "Typical! Wait until you start winning, then you quit..." her mind thinking about Joey at that point, always wanting rematches with Kaiba no matter how many times he looses.

"That's the second time I've lost to the Dark Magician Girl..." Arkana said thoughtfully as he glances over at Yugi, thinking quietly to himself. "Miss Gardner, why..."

"Tea."

Arkana glanced to her, "Excuse me?"

She gave a polite smile, "Stop calling me Miss Gardner! It seems so... formal!" She was about to say 'We're friends after all' , but she stopped herself. She never ranted about friendship, she just... worried about those she loved... her smile didn't fade, though inside she felt a little upset.

Arkana just nodded, "Tea... why did Yugi save me?"

Tea rose to her feet; straightening her red skirt some before stepping over to the still sleeping Yugi. His spiky two toned hair now extremely messy even by his standards.

"That's Yugi... he's been hurt over and over, yet he still helps out those who need his help. He holds no grudges, doesn't want to see anybody hurt even if they deserve it. Though to be honest, I would have done the same thing."

Arkana paid more attention now, curious to hear her.

"My mom died 5 years ago... I lost her, and I knew she was never coming back. I dreamt she would, even drew stories about her coming into my room, waking me up from a bad nightmare... but I knew she was really gone..." Soft blue eyes filled with tears looked to him. "You lost someone, but there's still a chance she could come back; still that unanswered question of where are you, when will I see you, are you even still alive? If she had died, then maybe it would be better... You would have closure, instead you have... nothing."

As she wiped her tears away, she stepped up to Arkana, a sort of maternal instinct creeping over her as she suddenly pulled him towards her, resting the side of his head against her stomach as her soft arms encircled his neck, her own cheek resting on top of his red top hat which lay comfortably against her breasts.

Arkana simply let her hold him... Inside his mind all he saw was a tall, leering Marik stood with ripped pages of a book in his hands as Arkana himself tried desperately to put the pages back together of his fairy tale life... to find his happily ever after.


End file.
